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Published on: April 23, 2021
Cerebral microbleeds predict first-ever symptomatic cerebrovascular events.
Tomofumi Nishikawa1, Tetsuya Ueba, Motohiro Kajiwara
1Department of Neurosurgery, Kishiwada City Hospital, 1001 Gakuhara-cho, Kishiwada, Osaka 596-8501, Japan.
Cerebral microbleeds (CMB) detected by MRI are a significant predictor of future cerebrovascular events. Identifying CMB can help assess stroke risk in patients with neurological conditions.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Radiology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Cerebral microbleeds (CMB) are common findings in neuroimaging, particularly in patients with various cerebral diseases.
- Gradient-echo T2*-weighted MRI is a key technique for detecting CMB.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether cerebral microbleeds (CMB) serve as a predictive factor for first-ever cerebrovascular events.
- To assess the independent predictive value of CMB for incident cerebrovascular events.
Main Methods:
- An observational study involving 698 subjects without prior cerebrovascular events.
- Gradient-echo T2*-weighted MRI was performed, followed by an average 3.5-year outpatient observation period.
Main Results:
- The prevalence of CMB at baseline was 17.0%.
- First-ever symptomatic cerebrovascular events occurred significantly more frequently in subjects with CMB (15 cases) compared to those without (21 cases).
- CMB were identified as an independent predictor of first-ever symptomatic cerebrovascular events (HR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.27-6.48) after adjusting for age, sex, and hypertension.
Conclusions:
- The presence of cerebral microbleeds (CMB) is an independent predictor of first-ever symptomatic cerebrovascular diseases.
- MRI-detected CMB can aid in risk stratification for cerebrovascular events.
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